Colegio del Pilar

The archaeological sounding on the site of the Colegio del Pilar in the
Old City of Jerusalem in 1996 was a salvage excavation, suspended for
administrative reasons. The present publication offers the results of a
rare archaeological investigation in the Christian Quarter. A
stratigraphic survey showed Ayyubid (XII-XIIIth centuries) occupation on
bedrock. Structural remains of the Mamluk period reflected the growth of
the city in the XIV-XVth centuries, and a well-preserved stone-built
cesspit of this period provided abundant pottery. Most of the volume
describes the fully illustrated pottery, organized by stratigraphic
context. The Mamluk pottery includes vessels imported from Italy. The
analyses of faeces from the cesspit have provided important information
on the health of the population at the time. There are reports on the
glass, coins and animal bones up to the end of the Ottoman period. The
del Pilar volume contributes to the renewed interest of archaeologists
and historians in medieval Jerusalem.